Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Feast Day of Saint Joselito, Teenage martyr for the faith and Patron saint of children and teenagers

February 10 is the Feast Day of Saint of José Sánchez del Río, aka Joselito.
Teenage martyr for the faith and Patron saint of children and teenagers.

St. José Sánchez del Río was a Mexican Cristero (“soldier for Christ”) who was martyred for refusing to renounce his Catholic faith.




2000 years ago Gamaliel the Elder, or Rabban Gamaliel I, a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early first century CE, a man held in great esteem by all Jews and as the Jewish law teacher of Paul the Apostle, Gamaliel encouraged his fellow Pharisees to show leniency to the apostles of Jesus Christ- Acts 5:34. He explaind why the Sanhedrin shouldn't kill Jesus' twelve apostles. He points out what happens to religious and or political movements that are not in God's will: once the leaders are gone, the movements disappear: "Acts 5:39 But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him. 40 After recalling the apostles, they had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them."

150 years later, Tertulian had a similar message:  “We spring up in greater numbers the more we are mown down by you: the blood of the Christians is the seed of a new life," yet AntiChristian governments such as the Mexican government that persecuted Catholics during the Cristero War
and or authoritative governments, 
refuse to pay heed.

Simon Sinek argues his Golden Circle explains why some leaders are able to inspire, while others aren’t.  Likewise, the Golden Circle of Hate explains why some leaders are able to promote hate.

Saint José was a young boy who stood up for people to be able to love God and the Church freely in Mexico. He wanted to be a soldier, but was too young to fight; instead, he was allowed to carry the flag.

Joselito, as he was also known, was martyred at just 14 years old during the Cristero War, an armed resistance to the Mexican government's persecution of the Catholic Church between 1926 and 1929. Captured by government forces, Joselito was offered his freedom if he denied the faith.

As José was forced to walk through town, he recited the rosary, prayed for his enemies, sang songs to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and proclaimed, “I will never give in. Long Live Christ the King!"

Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!" In the midst of the torture, the chief captain of the escort asked him, not out of compassion, but out of cruelty, what he would like his parents to hear as his last words. Jose replied: "We will see each other in heaven. Long live Christ the King!

The miracle needed for his canonization attributed to José Luis Sánchez del Río the inexplicable recovery of a baby in Mexico who doctors said had "no hope of survival", 2008–2009. 






The Cristero War erupted in 1926 after the Mexican government began enforcing anti-clerical laws written into the Mexican Constitution. President Plutarco Elias Calles, who took office in 1924, violently targeted the Church, seizing church




As the war on children and the unborn continues, Saint Joselito, pray for us and a national conversion


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